HK's ageing 'rainbow estate': Pull of nostalgia as wrecking ball looms

Some residents of 61-year-old housing estate have mixed feelings over redevelopment while architects call for conservation.

- Magdalene Fung

HONG KONG - It's known as Hong Kong's most Instagrammable housing estate. And it's due to be demolished and redeveloped from 2028.

Choi Hung Estate - or "rainbow estate" in Cantonese - is a tourist hot spot known for its photogenic multicoloured blocks of flats set against a sprawling basketball court on a low rooftop.

So popular is the 61-year-old public housing estate in north-east Kowloon for its aesthetics that it has been featured in the music videos of at least three K-pop bands in recent years, as well as in the works of countless photographers and artists around the world.

Its small neighbourhood shops, with faded gashapon toy-vending machines lined up outside its convenience stores, and a hair salon that still features twirling barber pole neon lamps provide a precious snapshot of suburban life in Hong Kong beyond the awe-inspiring skyscrapers and glitzy malls that the city is more often associated with.

These are among the reasons that some are still seeking to preserve the estate, despite the authorities having already conveyed their timeline for its demolition and redevelopment.

I quickly saw the charm of Choi Hung Estate on my visit there late in December, spending a couple of hours ambling through the 8ha, 11-block neighbourhood with its own schools, church, wet market, bing sutts (Hong Kong-style cafes) and even a music-learning centre.

To me, it had the feel of home - not so different from the Bedok public housing estate in Singapore where I grew up.

At an open area amid greenery behind a block of flats, a middle-aged woman sat on a plastic stool keeping a watchful eye over her dried mushrooms laid out to sun on a concrete bench.

Nearby, a group of elderly men gathered at an exercise corner, gossiping beneath the shade of large trees as uniformed teenagers passed by, chomping on starchy Hong Kong-style siew mai from the takeaway snack store steps away.